Across the ocean
by marlenrf
Summary: PostHogwarts. Ron and Hermione are in love, but she's away on a mission. While he's waiting for her, he's attacked and he discovers the truth behind some disturbing past events. He goes looking for Hermione. Also H&G. CHAPTER 2 IS UP. Frequent updates.
1. Chapter 1: News of a friend

Rating of story: PG-13. (So far PG)

Status of story (how far along it is): In progress.

Spoilers: All 6 books…given that it's a post-Hogwarts fan-fic:D.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made (quite the opposite, actually) and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Having said that: I don't think you hold any interest in suing me, and in any case, I've got no money. Anyway, don't do it!

Feedback: Sure, go ahead! Be a sensible reader and leave a review ;)

**Across the ocean**

**_Chapter One: News_**

There was a rainstorm that night at the Burrow. Ron Weasley could see bolts of lighting reflected on his window and later he would hear the echoes produced by the blasts. He'd been lying in bed for a couple of hours and hadn't been able to keep his eyes closed. The racket from outside wasn't the only thing that kept him awake though; he was also feeling deeply concerned for his now distant girlfriend, Hermione. She had been traveling across South America for over a year doing research on medicinal herbs. And as she always did, she had sent him many owls to keep him informed, so he knew there shouldn't be logical reasons to be worried. However, during that particular night he had begun to feel uneasy about her being there. "Maybe, it's just me missing Hermione badly", he thought.

It had been four years from the time when the gang had left Hogwarts. And four years had passed since the fall of the Dark Lord. The battle against the dark magic had been won by the Order, but at a high cost. The aftermath had been painfully lived in slow motion. For months, terror seemed to have found its niche in every house of the wizarding world, and fear dwelled in people's eyes. It took these people a long time to finally walk without constantly watching their backs. Consequently, new friends had been hard to find, so Ron was grateful he could still count on Harry and Hermione as his best friends. More than that, he was quite happy to be with Hermione, to be in love with her. Their love for each other had let him cope with all the things that came far more easily. But now she was out of his reach.

Ron and Harry, among many others, had been working hard in the Ministry of Magic helping to get it restructured. Hermione'd worked along with them, until she was sent in search of a powerful magical herb that even a witch could found only in the Americas. Ron remembered he'd been so angry about it. After all, they'd never been separated for such a long distance. Not once.

"Why do you have to go? Can anyone else go instead of you? You're work here is too important, how could we…replace you? It looks like…people will think you don't care. I mean...do you even want to go? Isn't Neville enough?", he'd asked her, shouting.

"Ron, listen this plant could save lives. It doesn't matter whether I want to go or not. And it's because I care that I _must_ go. It's not like I'm going away for good or something like it", Hermione had replied immediately looking at him. "Neville is well trained…but you don't suppose, that I'd leave him alone in something like this, do you?", she'd snapped.

He'd remained quiet for short while. "No, 'Mione, I don't. You're missing the point. I may not be an Auror, but sounds odd they request you to go in some sort of 'secret mission' when you work in educational stuff, which is a whole different department from…"

"What's that suppose to mean, that I can't do anything else? There's nothing suspicious about me being requested Ron. I'm pretty much the only one at work that's fluent in Spanish and happens to like Herbology", she'd interrupted him with her voice trembling. Then, after a long silence, she'd walked right across the room, to stand just inches from him and grabbed his hand. "Ron, please don't make this any harder than already is. You know my job is only temporary. All our jobs are, even Harry's. We haven't been assigned to anything in particular yet, and maybe this is the one for me…It doesn't mean…that I'm leaving 'us'. I will never, Ron, never", and so with a gentle movement she'd placed her arms around Ron's neck, and kissed him.

So, Hermione had gone away, along with Neville and Professor Westmark, the team leader. Ron had decided to swallow his disagreement, he wasn't going to play the egotistic boyfriend on her. Life, he'd learned, was too short for that.

The windows in his bedroom were banging dangerously. Ron, still in bed, grabbed his wand from the bureau and pointed it towards the windows. "_Inmobilis!_", he shouted and the windows became static. He ran his fingers through his red hair and, unable to fall asleep, got up from bed. After staring out of the window into the stormy night, he put on his jersey and went down to the kitchen. Suddenly, as he was pulling a chair to sit down at the table, he heard a knock coming from behind him. He turned around, and saw old Hedwig desperately trying to get pass through the closed kitchen window. Ron opened it at once, letting the snowy owl inside. He quickly untied a little roll of parchment she was carrying, and began to read it:

_Ron,_

_Listen, there's no time to explain, it's about Hermione. I've received an owl from her, she isn't safe. I'm going to the Ministry. We've called for an emergency meeting. Come at once! _

_Harry. _

The letter flew from Ron's hands.


	2. Chapter 2: The Gift

**_Chapter Two: The gift_**

"Harry! Harry!" yelled Ron. After reading the note from his friend, he had wasted no time in going to the Ministry. It could be truly dangerous to Apparate during those weather conditions -misplaced limbs had been known to occur. However Ron had done it without thinking it twice. He had been looking for Harry in his office, but he couldn't find him or anyone else. The building seemed to be empty. His heart was pounding rapidly. "Where the hell is everyone? God please, let them be okay!" he thought. He ran desperately across the long corridors calling out for Harry. And then, just as he stopped to catch some breath, he saw someone he'd thought he would never see again.

"Ginny? Is that you?" Ron said in shock. A few meters away, in front of him, was a young woman with long red hair, wearing a torn black cloak. She was staring at him, but her eyes were vague and distant. "Ginny? Er…er…Is--Who are you? Answer me", Ron demanded but he got no response. And suddenly he felt a burning pain in his eyes, and fell on his knees fainting.

"Ron? Ron, my son, are you alright?" said a voice that came from one of the corridors. Ron started to wake up, his whole body seemed to be in pain. With all the strength he could muster, he got up clinging on the walls.

"Dad! I'm…he-re…Dad…" Ron's voice was trembling. A few moments later, a tall red headed man came running towards him. It was his father, Mr. Arthur Weasley.

"Oh…for the life of--Ron, son, what happened to you?" asked Mr. Weasley. He had been a handsome man once, but a few years ago his face started to look like that of an older man that's suffered a terrible pain. He was now holding Ron, who was having difficulty in standing.

"Dad…Did you find Harry…I…I got an owl from him…Hermione she…er…he said she wasn't safe" said Ron who was beginning to regain full consciousness.

"Ron, she's fine, really…don't worry. C'mon sit, sit, you don't look well. What happened?" said Mr. Weasley concerned. For a moment, Ron, wished he was having a bad dream. He did not dare to mention what he had seen or what he thought he had seen. He wasn't sure anymore.

"I came looking for Harry, and then I saw a woman…she…I asked for her name, but she wouldn't say it and next thing I knew I was lying on the floor. How did you know I was here?" asked Ron.

"Oh, well, I went downstairs because I wanted to eat something, just a bite, you know your Mom doesn't approve of eating in the middle of the night…Anyway, when I was in the kitchen I read the piece of parchment that was on the floor. I assumed you were here, however I tried to locate Harry. I used Floo Powder, you know just the head, to see if he was in his flat, and there he was. But Ron, he said he didn't send anything tonight…I told him about the note, and he said he'd meet me here…"

"Ron! I had been looking for you all over the place" shouted Harry, who had arrived and seemed just as concerned as Mr. Weasley. His hair was just as untidy as ever and he appeared to have put on the first clothes he could find. "How are you?" he asked visibly nervous.

"It appears as though some woman attacked him. He doesn't know who she was" answered Mr. Weasley who looked slightly less worried for the first time since he had arrived.

"Are you sure? But the security in the Ministry is immense she couldn't have passed through if she was up to no good. We made sure of that, I thought we had. I reckon, maybe if she sent you the fake note. Did you fight back?" said Harry.

"Well, no, I mean, I didn't think she'd harm me. And she wasn't holding a wand, so I didn't see her as a threat, you know" Ron excused himself. The truth was that he had apparently seen his sister. He could not tell Harry about that, because of the way Harry felt for Ginny. Ron desperately wanted to talk to Hermione, to know she was well and to discuss what he'd just seen. A deep hole in his chest had formed when he read that note. He was relieved she was okay, but all he wanted to do was to hold her in his arms and protect her. He wanted her to know that she was the one for him, and that he would always be there for her. No matter what.

"It's okay, Ron. We better get you to a Healer, you seem to be in a lot of pain" said Mr. Weasley. He helped his son to stand up.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Ron. "Wait a moment, it was Hedwig! It was your owl who delivered the note to me. That's why I believed it. If you didn't send it, as I know you didn't…who could have done it?" he asked.

"Dunno, Hedwig hasn't come home in three days. Now, I fear something's happened to her. Let me notify the Phoenix Squadron, so they can come and secure the area", said Harry. He took a piece of what looked like old rock from his pocket and scribbled something on it with the tip of his wand.

"It's done. Come on, let's go", replied Harry as he seized Ron's arm and helped him to walk.

The three of them left the building. Ron was in pain so there was no time to be wasted. They walked down the street toward the nearest Healer, who was just a couple of blocks away. It was dark but at least it wasn't raining as heavy anymore. The streets were wet and slippery, so they had to be careful.

When they arrived, the Healer gave Ron a Restoring-Health Potion she'd made after examining for a while. Ron felt a lot better, given that the pain was going away.

"So, could you tell what originated the pain, Ms. Farjat?" asked Harry who looked relieved and even managed to smile. The Healer, Ann Farjat, was a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and delicate countenance.

"I'm not a specialist in this sort of wound, Mr. Potter. It's very rare, rare indeed, I'll say. It doesn't leave any traces behind, just pain. But not any kind of pain, it feels like burning, right Mr. Weasley?" she asked tentatively to Ron.

Harry and Mr. Weasley exchanged worried looks. Ron had not told them he had felt that bad. However, Ron remained indifferent and just nodded.

"Well, yes. I fear Mr. Potter, that this is an attack of dark magic. Not ordinary dark magic, no. And I believe I haven't seen a case like this in years. Now, Mr. Weasley we don't know the effects of this magic just yet. They could present themselves or not at all, however I would strongly recommend you to…"

"What does than mean?" snapped Mr. Weasley. "Isn't my son safe?" he demanded.

"Sir, please. Although I don't consider myself an expert I can tell you that your son is healthy. This attack or spell, whatever the origin, doesn't harm in that way. Believe me, if the person who did this had that intention your son wouldn't be here. I just want to advise you to check your son's behavior, if he acts differently. If the symptoms show up, then he'd be treated and I can recommend you the best Healer. That's all, you really shouldn't worry too much" said Ms. Farjat.

When they were outside, Ron, who looked almost recovered, was very silent.

"Don't worry Ron, I'm sure you'll be fine. You heard her, if anything happens you can be cured. But I'm sure it's nothing" said Harry trying to cheer him up.

"Harry, she said it was dark magic. And I'm convinced that nothing good ever came from the dark arts…Anyway, right now all I want to do is talk to Hermione, can you arrange it?" he said.

"Sure, mate, sure" answered Harry. He felt scared for his friend. He knew what it felt like to wait for something bad to happen. He waited for Voldemort almost all of his seventh year in Hogwarts to attack him. He had felt miserable and was determined to keep Ron from feeling the same.


End file.
